> As far as I know, almost all people taking medications for serious mental illness suffer serious side effects from them, that's just a fact. EVERY drug can c

> As far as I know, almost all people taking medications for serious mental illness suffer serious side effects from them, that's just a fact. EVERY drug can cause side effects. and it seems that drugs meant for treating severe conditions, also have the most severe side effects. e.g. take a look at cancer medication. these meds are for a very serious condition, and simultaneously come with some of the worst side effects i know of. but the thing is, they can help. they can save lives. the same is true for psychiatric medication. psychiatric conditions often show drastic mortality rates (25%-50% of people diagnosed with bipolar disorder attempt suicide at least once, with of course many succeeding[1]). and there are plenty of other such disorders with very high mortality rates. In people with schizophrenia less than half (41%) showed any therapeutic response to an atypical antipsychotic, compared to 24% on placebo.. numbers like these may seem low, but looked at alongside the mortality rates of many psychiatric disorders, these numbers can save A LOT of lives. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10826661 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10826661